Bridges and Roads

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We have lived in this community for 3 and a half years and have seen the condition of the road ebb and flow with the seasons. This spring , it is at its worst.

Year #1 was a series of community blockades that restricted our movement and led to many frustrating times trying to obtain permission to come and go through the neighbouring community. Thanks to their diligent blockading, the road in our community stayed in relatively good shape.

Year #2 brought increased traffic since many of the local farmers increased their rice production, the farming was more mechanized, and more people were working land further into the jungle. That meant more road traffic and our poor roads were eaten away by the heavy rice trucks. Also, the logging company moved on and the little maintenance that was done ceased.

Year #3 – a new gravel (rock) road to within three kilometres of the gate. But more problems with those three kilometres. No one was maintaining the road. People were moving the rice while the roads were wet. The dry season was wetter than normal so the road never dried out. The result was a very rough path, full of pot holes.

Of course, there is always talk of fixing the road and of installing bridges. This spring it happened. One new bridge and four culverts have been installed in the three kilometres leading to the main road. After a couple of weeks the road grader arrived and started to raise the road. As is normal, it has now broken down and is in for repairs. The local government says that it doesn’t have the money for the repairs so one of the farmers from Taruma has lent them 4000 bolivianos so that the grader can be fixed. He and his family own three chacos and have soy ready to be harvested so he sees the need for a better road.

It would cost about $1000US to put gravel on the road in Patujusal 2. Each land owner would pay about $70.00 -- about what one would receive for 2 fanagas (360 kilos) of rice. Most farmers have over 5 hectares of land mechanized and should get between 18 and 25 fanagas per hectare for a total of 90 to 245 fanagas. It would take only 2 fanagas to gravel the road but the majority decided that they would rather not gravel the road but instead, wait for a year or so to see if the local government – or someone else – will do it for them. You can imagine what the road will look like next year!

We hear that they will asphalt the first 45 kilometers in 2010. Should we count on it?